Leading Technology States (LTS)

Selection of the LTS

Every year, the Index compares Massachusetts’ performance on a number of metrics to a group of “Leading Technology States” (LTS). The LTS have economies with a significant level of economic concentration and size in the 11 key sectors that compose the Innovation Economy (IE) in Massachusetts. The Index accounts for three metrics deemed representative of not only the intensity of the Innovation Economy but also the size and breadth of a state’s innovation economy and evaluates them simultaneously.

The metrics used to select the 2017 LTS:

Number of key sectors with significantly above average employment concentrationDefined as the number of innovation economy sectors in each state where employment concentration is more than 10% above the national average and is a measure of the breadth of a state’s Innovation Economy.

Overall Innovation Economy employment concentration relative to the nationDefined as the percent of a state’s workers who are employed in the Innovation Economy relative to the national percentage and is a measure of the overall intensity of a state’s Innovation Economy.

Total Innovation Economy employmentMeasures the number of employees who work within one of the Innovation Economy sectors in each state and is a measure of the absolute size of a state’s Innovation Economy. A score is then applied to all of the states in order to determine the top 15.